Here’s a wrap-up of activities during the final day at the AIA SD 2025 Annual Convention:
Special student engagement session
Joshua Hemberger, AIA, LEED AP, an Associate Principal and Owner of substance Architecture, chats with architecture students from the The School of Design – South Dakota State University as part of a special student engagement session at the AIA SD 2025 Convention sponsored by Koch Hazard Architects. Thanks to our 2025 Design Awards jury co-chairs, Joshua and Leah Rudolphi, AIA, Substance Architecture, for their generosity in sharing their time with the next generation of architects.
What if? … The Courage to Work Differently — Nila R. Leiserowitz, FASID, FIIDA
Nila R. Leiserowitz, FASID, FIIDA, delivered this morning’s first keynote at the #AIASD2025 Annual Convention. She challenged professionals and students alike to ask, what if we had the courage to work differently? Nila, a South Dakota native, has spent more than 50 years in vastly different types of companies—from her own startup to the largest global architectural and interior design firm. We thank CO-OP Architecture for sponsoring Nila’s call to integrate all design disciplines as we create the built environment together. She focused on redefining roles to enhance design quality, reducing errors that could impact safety, and fostering environments that support social interaction and community benefit.
Educational Design: School Superintendent Panel
Architects use their voices and our skills to design our communities’ schools and universities. In turn, these institutions educate students who develop our cities, towns, and in fact, our lives. A panel discussion with three school district superintendents at the AIA SD Annual Convention took on some big questions about the biggest design-related legal, ethical and financial hurdles facing schools today. We thank Architecture Incorporated for sponsoring this forum with Dr. Wayne Kindle, Yankton School District Superintendent; Dr. Jarod Larson, Brandon Valley School District Superintendent; and Wayne Wormstadt, Meade School District Superintendent, Moderater Don Kirkegaard of Architecture Incorporated spent 41 years in K-12 education, serving a combined 26 years as the Superintendent for the Britton-Hecla School District and the Meade School District.
Luncheon Keynote Master Planning and Facilities Management Challenges & Opportunities
Garrett Peters, AIA, ACHA, MBAH, a leading architect and healthcare facilities executive, shared his perspectives on master planning and facilities management for patient care during a morning keynote at the AIA SD 2025 Annual Convention. We’re grateful to Journey Group for sponsoring this session. Peters used several recent project examples from his work at Avera Health to illustrate the environmental and health challenges faced by South Dakota communities.
There & Back: The Preservation and Keeping of Battery Point Lighthouse
Gene Fennell, AIA, an AIA SD past president, and his wife, Linda Fennell, spent some time as stewards of the famed Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City, California. They worked to preserve the landmark’s 160-year old legacy while also protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public. Thanks for sharing this amazing story at the AIA SD Annual Convention.
Facility Tour – Avera Women and Children’s Center
The last educational session of the 2025 AIA SD Annual Convention took the learning outside the conference center, for a tour of the new Women’s and Children’s Center Addition & Remodel on the campus of the Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center. Thank you to sponsor BWBR and superintendents from Journey Construction for giving AIA SD a sneak peek at the six-story, 230,332-square-foot project. They explained what it takes to keep a building site clean and safe when a working helipad is right next door. They also shared a behind-the-scenes design detail: They built full-scale mockups of several patient-room types inside a warehouse on campus. They later made changes to casework and other details based on feedback from the staff doctors and nurses they invited to try out the models.
